Overcome Your Fear of Speaking

Being blocked from speaking is a 100% effective way to not make mistakes.

One of the most common problems our newly arrived students complain about is feeling blocked or anxious when it comes to speaking English. Hidden behind these feelings is a fear of making mistakes and a fear of being judged for them. While this often dates back to our students’ experience at school, realizing that doesn’t help very much.

In a way, it makes perfect sense as a solution to the problem. Being blocked from speaking is a 100% effective way to not make mistakes. The problem is that it’s also a 100% effective way to make progressing in English impossible. Making mistakes is more than just a part of improving - it’s essential to it. This is why we focus on quickly building the confidence and comfort of our students so they can leave their anxieties behind and start learning.

Our results speak for themselves, but how do we do it?

Victoria’s holistic approach has developed naturally over time to meet the needs of our clients. But it’s no secret. Clinical psychologists have known for decades that when people overcome fear and anxiety it’s not because they’ve somehow become less afraid, it’s because they’ve become stronger than their fear.

We simply provide a fun and relaxing environment for our students where they can speak without being judged. At the same time, we help them acquire the tools and skills they need and their confidence grows with their knowledge. Understanding the difference between the simple past and the present perfect is more than just a grammar rule! Our students learn to trust and rely more on their intuition. They experience for themselves the real-world reality that it’s more important to be understood than to not make mistakes. They become more independent. They become stronger. And by the end, they’re ready to go out into the world and speak in real life situations.

In psychology, this is called Exposure Therapy - and it works!